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TI 2011 Plus Pack / UEFI and BIOS / Universal Restore Missing

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I’ve used Acronis True Image Home 2011 Plus Pack for many years with no problems. I’ve done several full restores to dissimilar hardware with no problems either, sometimes using Universal Restore and sometimes not, just adding the drivers after the fact if I didn't. Of course, I can’t do that when the system won’t boot.

Here’s my scenario that I need help with. For maybe my first time I’m copying an image from a machine that has UEFI and GPT with Windows 7 partitions, and wanting to go to a BIOS system with MBR. On the new system I have all unallocated space on the new hard drive. After backing up the entire GPT system and when trying to do a restore from the Linux boot disk on the new system, I don’t get the option for Universal Restore. I’ve always gotten one when coming from a BIOS system, but now I don’t get one coming from the UEFI system.

How do I get the option to do a Universal Restore? I’ve searched across the forum and seen others with the same problem but no good answers that I could find. Can anyone help?

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Hi Joel,
So after selecting My Disks > Recover, then choosing the system disk with the image you want to recover.... you don't see a Use Universal Restore checkbox? I suspect this might be a limitation of the new hardware if it is not UEFI capable (even if disabled). Just a guess in this case.

That is correct. The "Use Universal Restore" option doesn't show up. Interestingly enough, the new hardware was a Windows 8 machine (but now all unallocated space after a mass deletion of everything on it) that had UEFI enabled. I disabled it and enabled Legacy Boot on the restore.

How or what tool did you use for this "mass deletion" of data on the drive in question? Do I understand correctly that the image you wish to restore is a GPT format?

Enchantech wrote:

How or what tool did you use for this "mass deletion" of data on the drive in question? Do I understand correctly that the image you wish to restore is a GPT format?

I believe in the Acronis Restore disk there was an option to remove all data, like formatting the drive. That's my recollection. And the image I'm trying to restore is GPT.

I believe that GPT/dynamic disk support did not occur until TI 2012. I would think that since your disk is GPT then the application not supporting that would not give you the Universal Restore option.

Enchantech wrote:

I believe that GPT/dynamic disk support did not occur until TI 2012. I would think that since your disk is GPT then the application not supporting that would not give you the Universal Restore option.

I wish that were true since it would be easy to try another version, but it's not. The Plus Pack for 2011 TI came with GPT support, as shown here:

https://kb.acronis.com/content/13644

"Acronis Plus Pack is a separate add-on for Acronis True Image Home 2011 that has Acronis Universal Restore, Acronis WinPE ISO Builder and supports dynamic/GPT disks."

Any other ideas? I'm hopeful someone can help.

Windows 7 should be a supported operating system for TI 2011 as shown here https://kb.acronis.com/content/13672 .

The problem may be that you have the bios set to Legacy Bios mode and TI does not offer UR because it sees the image is UEFI. Try booting with the BIOS set to UEFI and see if the UR option is offered.

Mustang wrote:
Windows 7 should be a supported operating system for TI 2011 as shown here https://kb.acronis.com/content/13672 .

The problem may be that you have the bios set to Legacy Bios mode and TI does not offer UR because it sees the image is UEFI. Try booting with the BIOS set to UEFI and see if the UR option is offered.

That makes sense and I'll bet it's my problem. It'll be about a week before I can give that a shot but I'll report back with the results. Thanks.

I created backups of a UEFI Windows 7 system using 2011 Plus Pack and 2013 Plus Pack. Universal Restore didn't appear as an option when selecting the 2011 archive with either 2011 or 2013 rescue media. Universal Restore was available when selecting the 2013 archive. It looks like the issue is that 2011 doesn't fully support UEFI and GPT. 2011 backs up the GPT partitions as logical partitions so Universal Restore doesn't detect a bootable system in the archive.
I found a very convoluted way to get it to work that involves a recovery without Universal Restore, using the Windows 7 install disc and bcdboot to write the MBR boot files to the system partition, and then creating another backup of the recovered system. Universal Restore is an option when selecting the resultant archive.
This should be considered a recovery issue so you should be able to get free support. Universal Restore is a standalone program in the newest versions. They may be able to provide an ISO for you to use after your recovery.